Newcastle Beats Chelsea; Manchester Teams Win

Newcastle United's striker Yoan Gouffran celebrates scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Chelsea in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England on November 2, 2013. Photographer: Ian MacNicol/AFP via Getty Images

(Corrects Newcastle-Chelsea score in second paragraph of
story published Nov. 2.)

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Arsenal defeated Liverpool 2-0 to
extend its lead in English soccer’s Premier League as its two
closest pursuers lost.

Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey scored at the Emirates
Stadium as Arsenal moved five points ahead of Liverpool and
Chelsea, which lost 2-0 at Newcastle. The Gunners are unbeaten
in nine league games since a season-opening loss to Aston Villa.

“We really enjoyed it today,” Ramsey said in an interview
with Sky Sports. “You could see everyone was up for it. We’ve
got a nice little gap there and hopefully we can maintain it.”

Liverpool had the better of play early in north London
before Arsenal went in front in the 19th minute as Cazorla hit
the post with a header, then fired the rebound into the open
goal.

Olivier Giroud missed had a chance to increase the lead
early in the second half as he sent a chip wide after breaking
in on goal. Ramsey then made it 2-0 in the 59th minute with a
shot from 25 yards out for his 10th goal of the season.

Convincing Performance

Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, who’ve combined for 14 of
Liverpool’s 17 goals in the league, had few chances. Suarez had
the best attempt when he hit the outside of the post.

“I thought we had a very convincing performance against
top strikers,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “It’s good
for the confidence of the team and the ambition as well.”

Yoan Gouffran and Loic Remy scored in the second half as
Newcastle ended Chelsea’s six-game winning streak in all
competitions.

Gouffran put the Magpies in front in the 68th minute when
he headed Yohan Cabaye’s free kick past Petr Cech. Remy then
clinched the victory in the 89th minute with a curling left-footed shot from the center of the penalty area.

Manchester City got scores from David Silva, Matija
Nastasic, Alvaro Negredo, Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Edin
Dzeko plus an own goal from Bradley Johnson in routing Norwich
to move into fourth place.

Antonio Valencia, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney scored
in the opening 22 minutes as defending champion Manchester
United won at Fulham to extend its unbeaten run in the league to
four games.

Red Cards

Carlos Cuellar’s own goal gave Hull the home win over
Sunderland, which had Lee Cattermole and Andrea Dossena sent off
with red cards in first-half stoppage time. Saido Berahino and
Gareth McAuley scored in West Brom’s home win over last-place
Crystal Palace.

Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic scored after just 13 seconds
in his team’s 1-1 home draw with Southampton.

Begovic’s long kick downfield at windy Britannia Stadium
cleared the Southampton defense and bounced over the head of
goalkeeper Artur Boruc, who had come too far off his line. Jay
Rodriguez then drew Southampton even just before halftime.

Begovic is the fifth goalkeeper to score in the Premier
League after Peter Schmeichel, Brad Friedel, Paul Robinson and
Tim Howard.

West Ham ended a three-game home losing run by drawing with
Aston Villa. The Hammers had a 17-8 advantage in shot attempts,
putting four on target.